Apparatus for making hollow cables



June 5, 1934. H. A. STAPLES APPARATUS FOR MAKING HOLLOW CABLES Filed Oct. 23, l952- INVENTOR Horace A. Sta les Patented June 5, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,961,833 APPARATUS FOR MAKING HOLLOW CABLES Horace A. Staples, Plainfield, N. J., assignor to Phelps Dodge Copper Products Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application October 26, 1932, Serial No. 639,629

' 4 Claims. (Cl. 117-20) My invention relates to the making of hollow cables and more particularly to that class of elec-- metal into a butt seam tube, as the limitations of methods of making seamless tubes prevent seamless tubes of small diameter and gage from being a commercial product.

Heretofore attempts to strand open seam tube into cable have not/proved successful. Attempts .have been to draw the open seam tube from flat stock on spools, and strand from these spools into a cable in the ordinary method of stranding. The

bending of the tube around the spool, during drawing and the unwinding from the spool during stranding, as well as the various bends forced on the tube in its passage from the spool to the closing die of the stranding machine, have resulted in distortion and collapse of the tube.

The object of my invention'is to overcome the above difiicultiesof tube forming and stranding, 0 and to so locate my tube forming tools that the 7 tube is not subject to bending until stranded.

The foregoing and other features of my invention will now be described in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, in which Ihave represented my machine in its preferred form after which I shall point outvin the claims those features which I believe to be new and of I my own invention.

In the drawing:--- 4 Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sketch of my device in part section.

FigureZ is an enlargeddetail of the tube forming dies. Y

Figure 3 shows a section ofthe open seam tube as it comes from the die 7.

' In carrying out my irwention I einploy a standard stranding machine with a projecting-rotating end 1 upon' whichis' mounted a frame 2 adapted to carry a plurality of coils of flat strip material 3., Also on this spindle 1.1- mount a member 4' my invention.

- a straight line. 1

simultaneously with the stranding. To accomplish this I provide a revolvingvdisc or taping head 10 which maybe suitably geared to the revolving spindle of the stranding machine and adapted to carry one or more spools of metallic ribbon 11.

In operation the cable is drawn forward through the various mechanisms by a capstan 15 and reel stand (not shown) of the usual construction geared to the revolving spindle in the usual v manner.

I shall preferably combine the above" mechanism with subsequent stranding heads of the usual construction, so that any outside layers of wires are stranded on the above cable-as a core as a simultaneous operation. However, this is not necessary, and I may form a cable of tubular elements, in one operation, and cover this core cable with wire in a subsequent operation.

If desired, I shall place two or more of the above mechanisms in tandem in order to make core cables of several concentric layers of tubes.-

It is understood that I may also dispense with the taping head without impairing the usefulness of I wish it distinctly understood that my apparatus herein described and illustrated is in the form in which I desire to construct it and that changes or variations may be made as may be convenient or desirable without departing from the salient features of my invention and I there fore intend the following claims to cover such modifications as naturally fall within the lines of invention.

I claim:

l. A machine of the class described in combination, a member carrying a plurality of reels of fiat metal, means mounted on said member for forming the flat metal into tubes andmeans to -.4. In a machine of the class'described in combination, a rotating spindle adapted to carry reels of flat stock'and tube forming elements through which the stock passes and is changed from. a fiat a straight line to the closing to tubular form, a closing die through which all the tubes pass, means for twisting the tubes into the'form of av cable, and meansfor drawing the cable through the die, the travel of the material from thestock to the cable being in substantially HORACI E A. STAPLES. 

